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A  SHORT  SKETCH 


OF 


THE  LIFE 


OF 


ELI  W.  GA^UTpEJ^  D.  D. 


S KETCH 

BY 

r>.  SCIIENCK. 

FEBRUARY,  1901. 


REECE  &  ELAM,  BOOK  AND  JOB  PRINTERS,  GREENSBORO,  N.  C. 


A  SHORT  SKETCH 

OF  THE  LIFE  OF 

BET.  ELI  W.  CABDTBEES,  D.  D, 

Pastor  of  Buffalo  and  Alamance  Presbyterian 
Churches,  Guilford  Co.,  N.  C,  and 
a  Historian  of  1776. 


It  is  not  an  easy  task  to  write  an  interesting  account  of  the 
life  and  works  of  a  man  whose  life,  almost,  all  of  it,  in  his 
maturity  was  spent  in  one  calling  and  with  one  occupation, 
and  that  by  no  means  eventful — Mr.  Caruthers  was  born  in 
Rowan  county,  N.  C,  in  the  year  1793.  He  seems  to  have 
been  either  a  full  Scotchman  or  a  Scotch- Irishman  by  birth — 
certain  it  was  that  he  possessed  the  unflinching  integrity  and 
patriotism  of  those  noble  christian  peoples  and  exhibited  his 
worth  and  integrity  and  love  of  country  in  all  the  phases  of 
his  life. 

His  picture  taken  when  he  was  an  old  gentleman  shows  him 
to  have  been  rather  rugged  in  appearance  but  with  very  strong 
intellectual  features  which  the  Battle  Ground  Company  hopes 
very  soon  to  have  in  oil  by  David  L.  Clark,  Esq. ,  artist,  High 
Point,  N.  C. 

Mr.  Caruthers  was  born  in  Rowan  county  in  1793,  so  a 
tablet  to  his  memory  at  Alamance  church,  five  miles  south  of 
Greensboro  shows,  and  he  was,  for  a  long  number  of  years, 
assistant  pastor  with  David  F.  Caldwell,  D.  D. , — two  men  of 
whom  that  congregation  may  well  be  proud.    It  seems  that 


2 


when  Mr.  Caruthers  first  came  to  Guilford  county  and  to  the 
hospitable  home  of  Dr.  Caldwell  he  was  a  young  graduate  of 
Princeton  College,  New  Jersey — his  diploma  of  graduation 
being  now  in  possession  of  Dr.  Dred.  Peacock,  President  of  the 
Greensboro  Female  College.  Dr.  Caldwell  was  so  much  im- 
pressed with  the  worth  and  intelligence  and  christian  zeal  of 
his  young  visitor  that  he  invited  him  to  remain  until  the  fol- 
lowing Sabbath  and  preach  for  him.  He  was  still  so  much 
pleased  that  he  advised  the  people  of  his  congregation  to  give 
him  a  call  as  assistant  pastor,  and  in  that  way  Dr.  Caruther's 
history  became  linked  and  interwoven  with  that  of  Guilford 
county  and  greatly  attached  him  to  its  local  revolutionary  his- 
tory and  caused  him  to  search  for  the  truth  of  that  wonderful 
period  and  to  transfer  his  thoughts  and  such  important  history 
to  print  in  his  memorable  and  honorable  pages  of  his  "Sketches 
of  the  Old  North  State"  in  1776,  known  in  two  small  volumes 
as  series  First  and  Second.  They  were  given  much  honor  and 
reputation,  especially  in  the  "Second  Series"  by  his  refuta- 
tion of  the  slander  of  the  North  Carolina  militia  in  the  Battle 
of  Guilford  Court  House,  and  which  has  induced  Judge  David 
Schenck  to  elaborate  and  add  to  it  a  more  serious  and  exhaust- 
ive account  of  "North  Carolina  in  1780— '81,"  in  which  he  drew 
largely  on  Dr.  Caruther's  information  and  from  that  the  Guil- 
ford Battle  Company  has  built  up  the  company  by  that  name, 
which  has  gained  such  wide  spread  reputation  all  over  the 
Union  and  which  is  still  expanding  in  honor  and  worth  to 
history. 

To  Mr.  Joseph  M.  Morehead  belongs  the  honor  of  finding 
a  long  lost  photograph  of  Dr.  Caruthers  and  having  it  repro- 
duced for  all  time  that  his  name  and  features  may  never  be 
lost.  The  tablet  above  alluded  to  records  that  Dr.  Caruthers 
died  in  the  year  1865,  and  from  persons  still  alive,  we  learn 
that  he  died  at  the  home  of  Samuel  Denny,  Esq.,  about  six 
miles  east  of  Greensboro,  where  he  had  gone  to  pay  a  short 
visit.    We  learn  that  his  "end  was  peaceful  and  resigned"  — 


3 


"his  faith  was  steadfast  and  the  "rod  of  the  Lord"  comforted 
iiim  as  he  passed  over  the  "dark  valley  and  shadow"  before 
him. 

Dr.  Caruthers  was  an  inveterate  and  uncomprising  foe  to 
the  distillation  and  use  as  a  beverage  of  alcoholic  liquors,  and 
by  his  brave  denunication  of  these  vices,  more  common  then, 
than  now,  incurred  some  displeasure  of  a  part  of  his  people. 
He  was  also  opposed  to  slavery  and  continued  so  to  his  death 
though  he  was  not  violent  or  offensive  in  his  opinions — he  was 
no  slave  owner  and  refused  to  take  one  even  to  save  a  debt. 

Dr.  Caruthers  had  some  peculiarities,  remembered  still  by 
members  of  his  flock,  some  leaning  to  the  humorous  side  of 
life.  He  was  accustomed  to  wear  a  high  hat,  a  "beaver  as  it 
was  called"  and  at  times  wore  it  in  the  family  he  was  visiting 
and  did  not  remove  it  when  politeness  would  indicate  its  pro- 
priety. The  hat  is  still  shown  in  his  photograph  and  is  of  the 
high  order. 

It  is  said  that  he  ate  molasses  wherever  he  went,  it  is  sup- 
posed that  this  habit  was  used  as  a  medical  corrective — but 
at  any  rate  he  was  a  great  consumer  of  molasses. 

His  hair  was  of  a  sandy  color  and  distinctively  of  a  Scotch 
type.  He  was  buried  at  Alamance  church  where  he  rests 
among  his  people,  to  whom  his  memory  is  still  dear.  He 
was  a  God-fearing  man,  and  his  first  inquiry  about  any  ques- 
tion was  "Is  it  right?  Is  it  God's  will?"  and  he  impressed 
these  solemn  inquiries  on  the  mind  of  his  congregation.  In 
his  old  age  he  was  said  to  be  somewhat  prosy  and  a  little 
long  but  this  is  not  an  infrequent  error  of  old  age  but  no  one 
doubted  his  sincerity  and  devotion  to  the  truth  taught  in  the 
sacred  word  of  the  Scriptures. 

Alamance  and  Buffalo  have  given  more  preachers  of  the 
Word  than  any  other  congregations  and  they  should  revere 
and  perpetuate  his  blessed  memory. 

This  humble  tribute  to  Dr.  Caruthers'  memory  is  not  from 
the  church  but  from  one  who  loves  his  memory  on  account  of 


4 


his  fervent  patriotism  anc  his  uncomprising  love  for  the.- 
memory  of  his  dear  old  State  "North  Carolina." 

"Green  be  the  turf  above  him"  till  some  better  and  nobler- 
tribute  is  paid  to  his  worthy  memory. 

Dr.  Caruthers  is  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Alamance  churchs 
where  he  rests  in  the  bosom  of  his  congregation.  They  have- 
erected  over  the  grave  a  neat  marble  shaft  to  commemorate: 
his  life. 

Feb'y  9th,  1901.  &. 


i  V     «J  9 

/ 


